His idea was good, but he lost me with the blood pressure drop ... duh, down two points?
You could take your blood pressure 5 times in a row and have way more variance than that.
I went to an afterhours clinic. I had to wait an hour an a half. The doctor was cranky and spoke with a heavy accent. I was worried about my condition. My blood pressure was 179...both the doctor and nurse warned me I was on the verge of sure death.
I assured them my blood pressure was fine.
As soon as I got home and saw my DP and my dog, I took my blood pressure. It was 118.
Blood pressure is measured be 2 values: Systolic (the larger number) and Diastolic (the smaller number). As in "120/70". Saying your blood pressure is "118" is like saying your vision is "20". A meaningless value.
A drop in Diastolic pressure is the more significant change. The professor's change in blood pressure was dramatic.
Going to a doctor's office causes many people's blood pressure to go up. It stresses them.
RE: blood pressure -
The second number is critical, the pressure when the heart is reasting between beats. He dropped this from 88 to 73, which is a significant drop, indeed.
The numbers in your post, without the second number, is nearly meaningless.
Maybe you had better learn a little bit about physiology, especially blood pressure and its function.
The systolic part - the upper number - is not what medical people look at in non-emergency situations. It is the diastolic (lower) number that is the indication of "high blood pressure" on a long term basis, or chronic hypertension- arterial health. And since it is the number that indicates the pressure when the heart is "at rest", it doesn't fluctuate much like the systolic does.
A drop of 15 points diastolic is significant in regards to hypertension, and probably would be an indicator that his arterial/cardiac health is being dramatically improved.
When I had a critical patient in my ambulance, I didn't care much what their diastolic pressure was, as I was concerned that they had enough systolic pressure (perfusion) to keep them alive until I got them to the hospital. If they had long term hypertension, so what? Their diastolic pressure didn't enter into my "critical care" parameters at the moment. However, if they were being seen in the clinic on a non-emergent basis, their diastolic pressure is the number that is probably more diagnostic of their arterial/cardiac health.
My blood pressure was 179...
As explained above, that is a meaningless number without the diastolic... other than proving that you are pretty much alive with reasonable perfusion.
As soon as I got home and saw my DP and my dog, I took my blood pressure. It was 118.
Again, a meaningless number, other than showing that you still have good perfusion while being relaxed. What I wonder about is how trained you are in how to take an accurate blood pressure. The cuff size and placement is important, as is where you put the head of the steth- it's supposed to be directly over the artery. Without training, you can get wildly inaccurate pressure readings.
Also, taking your blood pressure once is of little diagnostic use... unless, like I said above, you are in a critical situation. Also, time of day or what cycle in daily activity will change the readings- sometimes dramatically. That's why you would chart your pressure over a period of time to get a picture of your arterial/cardiac health, plus many other things besides blood pressure. Maybe you should have paid the doc and nurse's concerns some heed.
I assured them my blood pressure was fine.
Yup, and why exactly were you at that "after hours clinic"? And why did you even go there if you are such a medical expert and you can tell a trained physician whether your blood pressure is "fine" or not? Setting aside the fact that you don't even know the parameters that make up your "blood pressure".
Sure, you had a little "white coat anxiety", which wouldn't make much difference in the diastolic pressure, only the systolic. But obviously, you know more than the doc.